My hands twisted together as I paced back and forth in Lucas’s kitchen. That courage I found thirty minutes ago went right out the door when he informed me that he only needed a few Tylenol for the pain.
Now I was in his kitchen, supposedly to get water for the Tylenol while what I was really doing was freaking the hell out.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
I stopped and turned to face Lucas.
Ugh. Why did he look extra handsome today?
When I didn’t answer, he drew his brows down in concern. “Hollie, what is going on with you?”
Taking in a deep breath, I decided the best way to handle the problem was to just be honest.
Here goes nothing.
“Lucas, we have to talk.”
“Okay, about what?”
I exhaled. “Let’s get you that medicine and go sit in the living room where you’ll be comfortable.”
He agreed. After he took the Tylenol, we made our way back into the living room. Lucas carefully sat in the recliner, and I waited for him to get comfortable.
“You know, I don’t need you to stay here, Hollie. I can manage on my own. It’s just a couple of bruised ribs. I’ve got plenty of work I can do from home.”
Smiling, I nodded. “I know you don’t need me here. It’s not that. I have a confession to make.”
He raised his brows, and there was something in his eyes that almost looked…hopeful. I’d have to reflect on that later. Right now, I needed to sound like a crazy person and hope that he didn’t throw me out of his house.
“Lucas, you know my sister, Sarah, and my Aunt Lucy.”
Nodding, he said, “Of course, I do.”
“And you also know they practice witchcraft. Not the bad kind that’s fictional, but they’re very in touch with nature and intuition. Very focused on heavenly bodies like the moon and stars.”
The corner of his mouth tilted. “Yes, I’m aware of that. We have a number of people in Salem who practice witchcraft.”
“Well, for years, my aunt has told stories about how the gift of witchcraft has been passed down from generation to generation.”
“Even one of the women who was put to death in the Salem witch trials was an ancestor of your mom’s, right?”
I nodded and started to twist my hands together. “Yes, there has always been a girl in our family with the name Sarah. It’s a long story, but anyway, when I was little, I truly believed the stories Lucy would tell us. Then one day, it all kind of changed for reasons I wasn’t really ready to admit to until the last day or so.”
“Okay,” he said in a concerned voice. “Is this going somewhere, Hollie?”
“Yes,” I said as I placed my hands flat on my jeans. “I’m just going to say it. A couple nights ago, I got drunk with Kristin, and she talked me into putting a spell on you.”
Lucas jerked his head back and gave me a stunned look. “A spell? You put a spell on me?”
“Yes! And why is that song now playing in my head?” I said with a nervous laugh. “You know, ‘I put a spell on you, because you’re mine…’ Er…um…anyway, yes, I cast a spell on you. It was all in fun, though, because you see, I didn’t think I was a witch at the time, or I was in really deep denial. And we used Halloween decorations, for goodness’s sake.”
“Okay.”
“Anyway, the next morning, Sarah showed up claiming to have felt me use magick, and I, of course, laughed and brushed it off. Then she found out we—I mean, I—put a spell on you. It turns out, the spell I thought I was putting on you was not the spell I used, and because of some, um,complications, the spell went south.”
“It went south?” he asked.
“Yeah, I mean, it is all jacked up. So, the spell I thought I was putting on you—all for fun, remember?—isn’t actually the spell I put on you, and here’s the best part!” I said with a nervous laugh.